Red Fife

This famous hard red spring wheat was introduced to the United States in 1860, when Wisconsin farmer JW Clarke had an excellent crop.  We grew it for the first time in the Spring of 2016 and had a small but good harvest.  The wheat tested out at 12.2% protein and made good bread and pizza.  It has a taste profile similar to Turkey, but the taste is stronger and there are sometimes floral notes.  It rises higher than our Turkey flour and makes a stronger dough.  Red Fife is a classic wheat that has been saved and handed down from farmer to farmer over the centuries.

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"Contrary to popular belief, Red Fife heritage wheat does not have a lower total gluten content than other newer varieties of bread wheat; this was confirmed by lab testing we commissioned at SunWest Food Laboratories in Saskatoon in 2006.  However, and besides Red Fife’s exceptional taste and baking qualities; we have preliminarily determined (prior to expected laboratory testing) that the gliadin protein level is ~35% of this wheat's overall gluten protein content. Wheat gluten’s insoluble proteins are gliadin and glutenin. This compares to ~80% gliadin protein levels found in a popular modern bread wheat variety that we last grew in 2003. Elevated gliadin protein levels are primarily what cause people to have allergic reactions/intolerances to most wheat."  --from Loiselle Farm, the source of our Red Fife seed.